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Encyclopedia of Religion entry forBaal-MarriageIn marriages under the system of male kinship in Arabia, the wife—whether obtained by capture or by contract—" who follows her husband and bears children who are of his blood has lost the right freely to dispose of her person ; her husband has authority over her and he alone has the right of divorce." Among the Arabians, Hebrews, and Aramaeans the husband in this kind of marriage was called ba‘al, " lord " or " owner." Robertson Smith therefore describes it as Baal-marriage (p. the term be`ulah of a subject wife, Isaiah lxii. 4). In this way such a marriage is distinguished from a Beena-marriage (q.v.). Robertson Smith contends that before the separation of the tribes Beenamarriage or matriarchy was the universal practice among the Semites. But Prof. Wellhausen has proved that Baal-marriage or patriarchy can be traced back to primitive Semitic times. Dr. I. Benzinger thinks it " best to abandon all attempts to make out a genetic connection or evolutionary relation between the various kinds of marriage." One tribe " might count kin from the mother, being endogamous, or else marrying its young women to men of alien tribe only when the men consented to join the tribe of the wife and the children remained with the mother. Another tribe counted kin from the father and therefore sought for its wives, so far as these could not be found within the tribe, by capture of such welcome additions from other tribes " (Encycl. Bibl.). See W. Robertson Smith, Kinship and Marriage in Early Arabia, 1903. citations: Encyc. of Rel., Canney
article created 2006-04-12 , last updated 2006-04-12 |
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